God’s divine appointments are always perfect!
Praise the Lord for the Salvation of Goran. Goran came to visit the church on a Sunday afternoon. Typically no one is there on Sunday afternoon, however the Lowries returned to the church after lunch to pick up some things. Pastor and another man from the Church were able to talk with Goran and he received Christ as His Lord and Savior. Please pray for Goran and his family. I am specifically praying for his daughter Leona. She is 8. It is my prayer that Leona will come church and also know Christ as her Lord and Savior.
I was not planning on taking an Uber to church a few weeks ago: but due to some unforeseen difficulties with my oven and the dessert for our church function, I took an Uber so that I could get to church on time. My driver’s name was Zvjezdan. He had a lot of questions about the difference between Baptists and Catholics, so I shared the gospel and scripture with him on the ride, I gave him two gospel tracts and invited him to church. It is my prayer that Zvjezdan will come to see his need of the Savior.
Last Sunday, one of our interns gave a lady a gospel tract as we waited at a tram stop. The lady’s name was Lidia. She began asking me questions about the church and so we began to converse about why I was in Croatia. She was very excited to learn about the Church and said she would like to visit sometime. I am praying that she will.
On the same evening I met Lidia, I also met Davor. I was able to share a little of my testimony with Davor and give him a gospel tract. We exchanged contact information, and I pray that we will be able to have further conversations about the Lord. Please pray with me for these three individuals, that God would continue to work in their lives. Please pray the seeds sown will not fall on hard soil, but rather fall on rich and willing soil and take root.
Family Fun in the Park!
We have started our busy summer outreach schedule and I am excited to resume our Family Fun in the Park (FFIP) ministry. Once a month we go to a local park and set up games, and a bounce house. We use the opportunity to give away free water, Bibles, and Bible story coloring books. The biggest question we get is why we are doing all of this for free? This question opens the door for us to share the wonderful message about the free gift of God’s love and the saving grace of His Son. We had our first FFIP in May. The turn out for the event was not as busy as we would have hoped because it was a holiday weekend, but pastor and one of the men in the church were able to talk at great length and share the gospel with a young couple. Please pray for Vladimir, Josepa, and little Oliver, that they would see their need for the Savior and come visit the Church.
One Year Anniversary!
I celebrated one year of living in Croatia on the 20 May! It was a blessing to spend the morning giving out Bibles at the Bus station. This was the first time we have done Bible distribution at the Bus station. There was not as much foot traffic as we thought there would be. However, I was still able to give out an entire box of Bibles (each box contains 24 Bibles). After Bible distribution, some of the young people rom the church took me to lunch and a model train show to celebrate my one-year Anniversary. It was lovely way to celebrate my first year in Croatia.
Prayer Needs & Praises
- Prayer: Salvation for Mia, Jasna, Tamara, Mirka, Jarica, and Magdalena
- Prayer I have distributed and given out almost 5,000 children’s class flyers in the year that I have been here. Please continue to pray that God will bring me some children to whom I can teach His Word.
- Prayer I will be returning to the States for five weeks in July to be a bride’s maid at a dear friend’s wedding. Please pray with me for safe travel and for the few meetings I have scheduled while I am there.
- Prayer: Learning the language.
- Prayer: Opportunities to share the Gospel with people I meet.
- Praise: My visa has been renewed and I will have the privilege to continue to serve the Lord in Croatia.
Musings of a Single Lady In Missions
Croatia has many, many, holidays in the summer it seems that there is at least one holiday in every week. A group of us from the church took advantage of one of the Catholic holidays In June to give out gospel tracts that have a picture of the Catholic cathedral on them. We gave out many tracts to the people who were leaving the Mass Service they had just attended. People were very receptive to this tract. Please pray that the Word of God would penetrate their lives.
Cultural Corner
One of the things I love about church here in Zagreb is the number of young people God has brought to the Church. It is a blessing to see young people my own age who are hungering and thirsting after Righteousness. I praise the Lord for this group of fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. For their fellowship and friendship. Croatia celebrates Labor Day on the first day of May and I had the opportunity to spend my first “praznik rada” with this wonderful group of friends. It was a fun yet interesting experience. Since I was the only American among them, the majority of the conversation was spoken in Croatian. Although I could only contribute a word here and there to the conversation and I only understood about 60% of what was being said, I still enjoyed the day immensely. I also got to try “Juha od Graha” or Soup of Beans which is the traditional Croatian dish they eat to celebrate Labor Day.